Partha appeals to end fast

Education minister Partha Chatterjee on Thursday made a fresh appeal to the candidates who are fasting to protest alleged anomalies in teacher recruitment to withdraw their hunger strike.

“I have examined all rules, regulations and documents related to teacher recruitment. I am sympathetic towards them but there is no way we can accommodate them. They should end their fast,” Chatterjee said.

Around 6,000 candidates, all of whom had taken the school service commission exam in 2012, are alleging that they are not being recruited despite vacancies.

Chatterjee said the school service commission rules stated that the panel of eligible candidates would have to be drawn up in the ratio of 1:5 — for 10 vacancies, there would be 15 candidates.

“Suppose the commission has chosen 15 candidates for 10 vacancies in a particular subject. The last five candidates cannot be appointed if the first 10 accept the job offer,” Chatterjee said.

According to the minister, the names of most of the agitating candidates figured at the end of the panels.

“The detailed scrutiny of the documents also revealed that most of the agitating candidates are untrained, another reason why they can’t be recruited,” Chatterjee said.

The human resource development ministry had set March 31, 2014, the deadline for untrained candidates to seek teaching jobs in schools, he said.

The government is awaiting a reply from the Centre on whether the deadline could be extended.